Saturday, November 29, 2008

Risky Business

Linda Blondheim pointed out in her comment on this blog, and others echoed, to make the leap requires a risk taking personality. I'm not sure risk is exactly the right description...I think it's risk and...

Bullheadedness?Cockiness?Pride?

Not words that usually are seen in a positive note, but frankly, I think you have to have it. It requires that almost blind pride that parents have in the early years. Their baby is smarter...all of our babies are smarter...than anyone elses, of any baby that was ever born. Every baby will be a doctor or president!

You have to love and have confidence in your work in the same way. We try to tamp that hubris down, but I think it's a necessary ingredient.

I know we can find famous artists...masters...who were full of self doubt, etc., but SOMETHING made them keep going on their particular path, and I think that something is that bullheadedness that they were going in the right direction for them, despite what critics or friends or anyone said.

Not that they ever arrived. Really good artists are always moving forward down their path. We have something in mind and it seems always just a tad out of reach, skillwise.

There's that inability to quite define on canvas or paper where you want to go. Who was it that said that they could never get that light...the light that they saw in their minds eye and spent their lifetime trying to convey?

So I think there's a funny push/pull between that cocky pride in your work and the just out of reach "something". And I think that's where delicious energy and life reveals itself in good art.

I think that's why someone like Thomas Kinkade's work seems so dead.

We of course have to view our work critically and welcome crits. But we also have to have be bullheaded about ourselves, our ability to "make it"...to be in love with our work, even if it's not nice to say so!